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Does iPhone 4S Invisible Shield make sense?

R

recryl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2010
13
0
Hi,

I just ordered the Invisible Shield (IS) for my iPhone 4S, but my brother has almost convinced me that it is in fact unnecessary. According to him, the gorilla glass is already very scratch resistant, but quite brittle, so the risk of the glass shattering is much greater than the risk of it getting scratches. The invisible shield doesn't offer any mechanical stabilization, and if the phone is already nearly scratch resistant, it really doesn't serve much of any purpose.

Furthermore, some people have reported having a poorer experience of the otherwise beautiful screen with the IS mounted. If the IS alleviates a problem that isn't really there (glass scratching), doesn't fix alleviate the real problem (glass shattering), decreases the screen performance and is somewhat expensive, I think I will send it back. But are these observations correct? Does the screen performance decrease? Is the unprotected screen unlikely to get scratches?

Thanks for your thoughts on this!
Best regards
Kristian, Denmark
 
recryl said:
Hi,

I just ordered the Invisible Shield (IS) for my iPhone 4S, but my brother has almost convinced me that it is in fact unnecessary. According to him, the gorilla glass is already very scratch resistant, but quite brittle, so the risk of the glass shattering is much greater than the risk of it getting scratches. The invisible shield doesn't offer any mechanical stabilization, and if the phone is already nearly scratch resistant, it really doesn't serve much of any purpose.

Furthermore, some people have reported having a poorer experience of the otherwise beautiful screen with the IS mounted. If the IS alleviates a problem that isn't really there (glass scratching), doesn't fix alleviate the real problem (glass shattering), decreases the screen performance and is somewhat expensive, I think I will send it back. But are these observations correct? Does the screen performance decrease? Is the unprotected screen unlikely to get scratches?

Thanks for your thoughts on this!
Best regards
Kristian, Denmark
Click to expand...

It will scratch definitely! You don't even notice the screen shield is on and it will keep the screen brand new for when you come to sell it on. If the shield is good the screen performance will not be affected although if you get a cheap one the clarity is slightly affected!
 
I use ghost armor on my iPhone as an extra layer of protection and to protect the olephobic coating. I had a 3Gs that the coating wore off
 
I will never use a Zagg product on my devices again.

I need a matte/anti-fingerprint finish on my products, so I use the Power Support HD Anti-Glare film. I've had great previous experience with their products and trust them to protect my iDevices
 
I prefer clear-coat. It's not as sticky and no ornage peel like the Zagg IS.
 
recryl said:
Does iPhone 4S Invisible Shield make sense?
Click to expand...
Completely subjective matter. I (and others) can't stand the texture and distortion. Others seem to like them. YMMV.

recryl said:
I just ordered the Invisible Shield (IS) for my iPhone 4S, but my brother has almost convinced me that it is in fact unnecessary. According to him, the gorilla glass is already very scratch resistant, but quite brittle, so the risk of the glass shattering is much greater than the risk of it getting scratches.
Click to expand...
Scratch resistant != unscratachable. Again, subjective. It's your call whether or not you want to rely on just the scratch resistance of the screen.
 
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i recommend buying from bestskinsever.com used it on my HP touchpad and its the same quality as zagg but only costs like $12 for total body
 
azm said:
i recommend buying from bestskinsever.com used it on my HP touchpad and its the same quality as zagg but only costs like $12 for total body
Click to expand...

where can i buy bestskinsever in UK?? or do i need to order online from US??

thx
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

I agree with a good screen protector it is hard to tell its on BUT finger prints suck! Oil from from your skin smears way too easily and doesn't whipe off as easily as just the glass.
 
Invisible shield is a joke, they are not worth it to be honest, first the layer is kind of a orange skin feeling, texture wise is not good, secondly the layer will turn out to be yellowish after some time. Thirdly I you going to put it in your jeans, the sides will going to trap a lot of dust and hence make it look ugly and you would want to peel it off immediately.
 
recryl said:
Hi,

I just ordered the Invisible Shield (IS) for my iPhone 4S, but my brother has almost convinced me that it is in fact unnecessary. According to him, the gorilla glass is already very scratch resistant, but quite brittle, so the risk of the glass shattering is much greater than the risk of it getting scratches. The invisible shield doesn't offer any mechanical stabilization, and if the phone is already nearly scratch resistant, it really doesn't serve much of any purpose.

Furthermore, some people have reported having a poorer experience of the otherwise beautiful screen with the IS mounted. If the IS alleviates a problem that isn't really there (glass scratching), doesn't fix alleviate the real problem (glass shattering), decreases the screen performance and is somewhat expensive, I think I will send it back. But are these observations correct? Does the screen performance decrease? Is the unprotected screen unlikely to get scratches?

Thanks for your thoughts on this!
Best regards
Kristian, Denmark
Click to expand...
The iPhone's screen being un-scratchable is a myth. It is scratch resistant, meaning it's hard to scratch, but it's not impossible.

I'm holding an iPhone 4 with a scratch on the screen right now. :)
 
The glass is scratch resistant but the oleophobic cotating is not.

Coatings on glass tend to scratch. Take for example high end watches, they have an unscratchable saphire crystal, but the ones that have double AR coating (in and out) the utside coating can get scratched. Watchmakers solve this by removing of the coating on the outside.
 
I had IS for a while it was awful. None of the employees could install imperfectly nor could I. And it kept peeling.
 
I tried many brands, types etc. but unfortunately, no one made me happy!

I am not sure if better to use. Right now, I do not use anything, but I am afraid to have a scratch on the screen :/
 
Best skinz ever user here. Very happy overall!

Sure I'd like to use the phone without but the aerial band scratches too easily making the phone look a bit rubbish.
 
I just use the screen they sell in Apple it works great and it's slick. I've never had a problem with it on my previous two devices.
 
I'm still debating not using a skin on the face... I'd want one on the back though. Keep that side scratch free... but I like the slide of the glass... and sadly it's not Gorilla Glass so it WILL scratch eventually if you keep it in your pocket.
 
Last edited:
I've been using is for several months and I have to say it's a decent screen protector and has protected my screen from scratches but also at the same time as some folks pointed out the coating turns yellowish after a while and the edges tend to peel off. As for the yellowish tint, I never noticed it until I bought 4s and had them lying side to side. Overall it does what it advertises it does hence for me it's an indispensable part of my ip accessories as it gives me peace of mind.
 
toasty hoodie said:
I will never use a Zagg product on my devices again.

I need a matte/anti-fingerprint finish on my products, so I use the Power Support HD Anti-Glare film. I've had great previous experience with their products and trust them to protect my iDevices
Click to expand...

I used them as well on my 4S, my iPad and my MBP. Love them all.
 
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